Gate



June 19, 1923.

H. F. G UTH GATE 2 Shets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug- 15 1921 I Referring now moreparticularly to the v-meohanism permitting of an operation of I ing ofthe. ready. response the gate-withthe expenditure-of but a minimum ofenergy, it is my purpose to provide a panel and mounting. therefor, suchgate panel. swinging in a vertical plane and being counter-balanced by aweight insurof the gate panel to but a slight impetus. This purpose isaccomplished by mounting the panel and.

the counter-balancing weight therefor in such amanner that the panelwhen-intermeh ated to its fully open position.

This result is accomplished by pivotally securing,.in a manner hereaftermore fully specified, the panel 11 to a pair of posts 12 .clearly shownin Figure 3. The panel. as will be noted, swings through a verticalplane and the outer end oi the same. is adapted to lie; in the closedposition of the gate'adjacent a latch post 1.3. The gate in its closedposition is held from movement withurespect to this latter post byvirtue of latch 14 normally engaging the under side of a latch plate 15by virtue of any suitable 7 type of spring 16 serving to'cause the for-'m'er to normally lie in this position. A retraction of the latch 14 isconveniently effected by'a latch rod 17 passing through guide eyelets 18provided for this purpose,

so that upon a pull being exerted upon. the

rod '17 aretraction of the latch 14 will result, permitting this ,memberto clear. the latch plate 15.

Now with a view of providing suitable means which will serve, upon thegate being lowered, to guide the outer end of the same roper position,Y-shaped guide 1rons to its p are associated with the latch post 13.These irons conveniently comprise a Y-sh'aped body portion 19 providedwith outwardly extending flange 20 adjacent their side edges. In thisconnection, it is to be noted that the uppermost of the guide ironsconveniently terminates in the latch plate 15 so that asingle packed.unit may be provided.v .The lower guide iron is provided with i a stop21 of any suitable character which is adapted to coact with a cushioningmember such as a spring 22 positioned adjacent the outer end of thelower edge of the gate panel' 11. It will nowbe understood that upon thepanel swinging downwardly, that the outerend of the same will be movedto its proper position should any slight mis hen moved past" thisesa-505alignment of the operating parts of the same occur by virtue of the factthat the gate stud 23 associated withthe panel 11 will engage theoutwardly extending flanges 20 oi; the body portion 19, upon the descentof the panel simultaneous with the engagement of the spring 22 with theguide iron provided for this purpose adjacent the lower end of the latchpost 18, thus guiding the gate to a point at which the outer edge of thepanel will be in perfect alignment, i, e., its proper position withrespect to-the latch post 13. Upon the continuation of the downwardswinging of the panel11, the latch 14 will. be retracted by virtue ofthe engagement of the spring 16 by the latch plate 15, subsequent towhich the latch 14 will ride past the edge of the plate 15 and snap intothe position indicated-in Figure 4, thus preventing any further motionon the part of the panel 11 with respectlto the fence. In thisconnection, it is to be'noted that the panel 11 will have to move with arelatively large amount of speed to overcome the retarding actionincident to the operation of the latch 14, insuring that these partswill be in their proper position upon the completion of the movementofthe panel. adjust the movements of the parts with that degree of nicctyinsuring this operation and an immediate stoppage of movement on thepart ofthe panel; and with a view of cushioning any shocks incident tothe closing of the panel 1.1, it will be noted that the spring 22 willcoact with the stop 21 so that a cushioning action. will be set up, thusinsuring a gradual braking of the movement of the panel without anydanger of the parts of the gate becoming injured.

Necessarily, it will be impossible to i Now with a view of providingoperating mechanism for a gate in such manner that it will be possiblefor an operator to actuate'the gate panel irrespective of which. sideota vehicle he may be occupying, suppleinent posts or stanchions 24 areprovided,

one pair being conveniently locatedin ad.- vance of the gate and uponeach'side of? the roadway, the second pair being in asimilar position tothe rear of the gate, contrary to the conventional construction whichprovide single postin advance of the gate, a second post beingpositioned to the rear thereof. Associated with each of the supplementalposts 24 is handle 25, to which is conveniently connected a cable 26extending over guide members 27 and having its inner end secured as at28 to the panel 11. It is to be noted that a further cable or othersuitable connecting member 29 has one of its ends secured to each of thecables I a pull in anrupward direction."

To now properly counter-balance-the panel 11 so as vto insure a readyresponse upon the part of the same, it'is now primarily to be noted thatthe pivotal con nection existing between the panel and the gate posts 12is eifectedby providing a gate pivot clearly shown'in Figure 5, whichpiv- 0t preferably includes a rod 30 which has its ends rotatably housedin bearings of any suitable character 31, this rod being'secured tothegate panel 11 in any convenient man. ner. Bolts 32 pass one througheach of the gate posts 12 and have their inner ends engaging andsupporting the bearings 31. Springs 33 are conveniently interposedbetween the gate posts 12 and the outer, ends Of the bolts 32,thujs'retracting the'latter-to a position at which the pivotbearin'g'will be firmly held against the faces of the gate posts. a

It will be noted that thebolts 32 extend through the posts 12 at anangle and it will be understood that any jars incident to operation ofthe gate, even though the same may be somewhat unusual such as theslight collisionon the part of a vehicle and the gate panel, that thepivot thus provided will be capable of giving so that a movement of thepanel may be effected with respect to thesupporting posts 12,-withoutany material injury of the gate resulting. I

Referring now more particularly toFigure 2 it will be seen that anactuating link 34 has one of its endspivotally secured adjacent theloweredge of the panel 11, its upper end being'pivotally associated with anactuating arm 35, which latter is rigidly aflixed to a pivot shaft 36rotatably secured by means of any suitable type of bracket 37 to one ofthe posts 12. Associated with the opposite end of the shaft 36 is an arm38, which latter is conveniently'slidably secured to the shaft 36 and isaflixed in any desir able position by any suitable means such as a setscrew 39. By this latter construction, the length of the arm 38 may bevaried and the leverage exerted by means of the weight 40, which isafiiXedto the outer end of the arm, may accordinglybe varied.

F or a purpose hereinafter more fully specified, a spring 41 is providedat a point directly below the outer end of the arm A pawl, moreparticularly shown in Figures 6 and 7 is associated with the outer endof the arm 38, which pawl may be of any convenient type such as a foot42 p-ivotally secured as at 43 to the arm38 and provided of theoperating parts with a'stop 4A, which permits ofthe swinging of the foot42 in but one direction;

It is now to he noted that the actuating arm 35 is of less length thanthe distance betweenthe point of pivotal connection of the link 34' andpanel, 11 and the pivot exist v ing between t'he gate post 12and thelatter.

hus formed, the panel. 11;:swinging through an arc ofsubs'tantially ,Qi.e., to the position indicated in dottedlines in Figure, 2,"

at whichthe inner edge of the panel illseats upon the rest 45, theweight 4:0 aud ts associated arnr38 will-travel through an arc greaterthan 90, in other "words, to the*eX- treme. positionindicated .inxdottedlines in H Figure 2. It will readily -be.appreciated .that bythisconstruction when thefgate' is half way open, that it is perfectlybalanced by the weight and will remain at rest at this point assumingthatthe length ofth arm 38 has been adjusted so that the proper leverage1s. secured). If the gate is .now

given animpetus towards its closed or'low-- I ered position, it willcontinue to gain momentum untilit reaches this position and is locked bythe, latch, the gUlClQuIIOlIS ins suring it proper position on the outerend ofthe gate. Ashas been afore described,

the spring 22 will reduce and gradually re-.- tard the momentum of thegate, so that any unusual ar incidentto the same reach ng its closedposition is eliminated.

rissuming. aga1nthat the gate is half raised, i. e., in this balancedposition, it will i be. appreciated, assiuning that an impetus in anupward direction s lmparted to the 100, panel .11, that by virtue of thearrangement of the actuating arm and pivotal mounting of v the ga'te,the"weight4l0 will actuate the same.

in such a manner that the niouientuln'of the panel "movement in' anupperdirection is increased. Thus, the center position, ,i. e., thepositionin which the parts perfectly counter-balance one another mightbe said to represent the dead center? position of the gate so that uponthe panel 11 being moved through a vertical plane either upwardly ordownwardly, this motion will be continued and accelerated to a point'resulting in a complete opening or closing of the gate panel. As aforestated, the gate will now move-to its: fully open position and thismotion will be continued and accelerated to a point at which the pawlassociated with the outer end of the arm 38 strikes the spring 41 and itwill be understood that by virtue of the frictional engagement incidentupon this operation taking ef fect, the motion of the panel will-beretarded. Also, by reason of the arrangement ofthe spring 11, the outerend of the arm 38 will meet with increasing resistance to a point atwhich the motion of the arm and consequently the panel 11 are. nearlychecked, .at which point the latter will be in almost its full position.Upon the arm reaching a point at which the momentum of positionindicated in dottedlines in Figure '2, thus perfectly counter-balancingthepanel. and preventing any accidental closing of v the gate. 1

A'closing of the gate may now be effected by a second pull upon any ofthe cables 26, which pull in tiie nature of a jerk will inipart to thepanelsutficient momentum to permit it reaching its 3 dead centerposition, below which point, as atore described, the closing willautomatically continue. As

has been 'aforedescribed, the same pull or jerk when the gate has beenclosed will reverse the operation, with the exception that in additionto the movement of 'tlieparts described, the latch rod 17 will beactuated to eifectrelease of the latch 1e. Thus I have constructed agate which i shall be extremely easy to operate-in that the parts aresemieautoinatic in'operation,

the actuating means therefor being entirely accessible from any typeofvehicle or being capable of operation on the part ofa pedes trian fromany number of different points.

It will further be. appreciated thatI have constructed a gate which ismounted in such 'a manner that, as afore described, the parts willalways remain in alignment, not only upon receiving ars incident tonormal op- 1118i plane of travel.

jected to extremely'roughausage.- v

'Obviousl'y, numerous modifications Lot structure might readily beresorted to with:

ei ation,"but also in the event of being sub out in the leastdepartingfroin the scope of,

my claims, which are:

i L'A- gate including a gate panel, asupporting means for. said gatepanel, and lVOtln meansassoc-iated withgsaid su P a:

porting means and attached to said panel for permitting a swingingmovement of said panel through its normal plane of traveland alsopermitting of aliin'ited: movement of said panel in aplaneti'ansverse'to said norga te including in combination gate posts, a gate,panelpivotally secured to said gate posts, ashaft, means extendingbetween said shaft and panel for moving the latter,

lever attached to said shaft, aweight securedto said lever, said. weightand lever being adapted to-swing downwardly upon said panel being movedtOItS open. posit on,

meansco-opera-ting with the outer'end 0t said le er for retarding-themovement of 3 the same upon said weight swinging down wardly, and meansforreleasing said retard-.

ing action. I

3. A gate including in comb nation gate posts, a gate panel pivotallysecured to said gate posts, a shaft, means extending between said shaftand panel for moving the-latter,

a lever attached to said shaft, aweight secured to said lever,said-weight gand lever being adapted to swing downwardly upon said panelbeing moved to its open position, means co-operating with the outer endof said lever for retarding the movement of the same upon. said weightswinging down- I wardly, and means "for automatically rel.eas-. ing saidretarding action.

In testimony whereof I my signature.

HAROLD F. GUTH.

